


Rio

by mariabumby



Category: Free!
Genre: 2016 Summer Olympics, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon, Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, M/M, Sports
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-29 15:23:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8495095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mariabumby/pseuds/mariabumby
Summary: Olympic Bronze medalist!Rin Matsuoka looks for motivation to pick up the pieces. Encounters Sousuke Yamazaki after a long separation and learns who's coach and a PT!





	

Olympic bronze medalist Rin Matsuoka is almost breaking his jaw from chewing on the thing that should crown first, it tastes tangy. And bitter. He pounds his heels on a stingy old treadmill in a basement gym, he curses this brazilian sunshine. Beach sand stabs you in the eyes. His stupid pride doesn’t want to go back to the olympic village, refuses to be comforted by other wretched losers or his coach.

His wailing run track is cut by a buzz from an unknown number. It’s yamazaki, telling him hi, I’m in rio. Congratulations,.. and Rin loses the fire in his run. And his own ear are numbed to earphones unaccustomed to the sudden silence. Rin’s thumb automatically reaches for the delete icon but recalculates how much plane ticket costs in a budget of of a friend,and this one in particular, deserves a call. Or a meal. They agree to meet at a minimart, at sao paolo. And Rin is gritting his teeth again, with each pop of a message on the thin film of screen. He must be imagining it, but Sousuke sounded so fucking happy.

 

\------------------

 

The grocery section had the same even fluorescent lighting that made the portugese minimart feel flat or droll, and Rin’s head was in the odd state of slipping off his own neck. Sousuke is pushing a small grocery cart, one of the wheels lodged differently making the metal body keel to one side. Sousuke is narrating the bottles as they come down the narrow aisle. Saying : you’re off your diet right? Want to celebrate that ? Sousuke grabs a fat black lacquer bottle of captain morgan and feels it on his palm. ‘I can make a good mix with this.’ Rin says ‘Whatever has the highest alcohol content’ with fists in a plain black jacket. Sousuke feigns offended.

‘You’ve delayed drinking for sport, so long, the least I could do is make sure you enjoy getting wasted.’ Sousuke goes on grocery shopping but now making all the decisions mostly by himself, rin follows in a drone like state.

‘The key here is to get a nice tasting mix that somehow reveals itself. Involve different alcohol contents and flavors so that you could ease into the stupor rather than getting wacked in the head. ‘

‘You sure you’re not a bartender’ Rin quips

‘Physical therapist, coach.’ Sousuke answers automatically. ‘That’s why we’re not getting any syrups. but I really like this tomboc thing I have going with salt chips, so go ahead pick’

And Rin is staring at a food aisle he’s never been in for so long. Junk food, he thinks. Eyes wandering at the different colored mascots marketing him the taste of the seashore. Junk food, and Rin grabs two giant packet of yellow lays and air. And felt just the slightest bit triumphant with his chin up when he managed to pop one open at one pull when they get to the register.

Sousuke notices. Tempers his tone to quietly make a suggestion: they drink this with the irmaos in the dojo he’s backpacking in, cause you know jiu jitsu, I mean this is brazil. Land of brazilian portchugesh and jiu jitsu and the irmaos are nice company, even if the dojo smells,... you should really crash in for the night.’ Sousuke pauses. It’s a really long sentence for the guy, the quiet broody tall kind of a man and Rin relents again as they’re carted off with the bustle of rio buses, with shopping bags from a split receipt.

 

\------------------

And oh Rin easily slips and forgets. Rin likes the grey goose vodka, these burly purple belts give nice bear hugs and slap people too often, and the olympic commentary shouldn’t be this funny. They jostle and tease like proper drinking buddy strangers, matsuoka! Our bronze medal Matsuoka! And Sousuke can whip one fine drink and Rin can’t really commend him on it cause this Delos Santos is insisting to talk to Rin on the fine intricacies of read: grapplers are the best lovers. Just ask Sousuke’s girlfriend, someone shouts at the back. And Rin is flustered. And everyone thinks it’s cause of the wrestling-themed-sex and Rin’s choking on a single word, girlfriend ??????

 

\------------------

 

Rin is hammered in more ways than one, and Rin’s head is swimming in olympic waters again, because the burly jiu jitsu guys were so persistent, had unfair body weight thing going on for alcohol tolerance and Rin’s only part of the last two standing because of the lucky fact that he kept on vomiting. Not that that was any fun, or that the last two were physically standing, but sprawled on the floor. Or at least Rin was.

Sousuke was resident assigned bartender and needs to be sober enough to keep mixing, so it made vague sense to Rin that he’d be the one hauling. Hauling Rin’s body to the kitchen counter, offering a bowl of ice cold water saying ‘dunk’. Make sure you get your whole face, make bubbles and.

"What."

"Just do it, flushes the toxins out. Makes sure to keep your eyes open."

And I don’t know how movies make it look romantic but having another guy hold your soddy hair for you, while smelling like foodshit, n feeling like your knees don’t exist is frankly traumatic. Rin keeps thinking: I’m supposed to have a gold medal right now and Sousuke’s is cradling my neck asking-

‘Ready?’

Flush of cold water, brain freeze, ice prickled baptism. Mind blanked consciousness swiped

"GWAAH!."

Rin snaps recovers to the side, yanks out Souske’s hand, regulates his breath, slaps a hand on his own cheek.

‘wow’ Rin mutters.

Sousuke says ‘again?’ and Rin musters enough energy to push his hand away.

Rin feels sober enough to do it himself.

 

Bright. frigid, unforgiving biting on exposed skin, bubbles floating odd sensation skimming on rin’s own face. A couple of eye blinks, willing resurface.

Rin swipes a hand over his face, the counter was all wet but the goal was accomplished. Rin feels super okay and Rin almost doesn’t want it. Like the intolerable collapse of his perfectly calculated body, toppled on vomit was a much better reflection and analogous physical support of his internal emotional turmoil. He just probably needs to starve himself thin again and let himself succumb to atrophy. But Now with that gone, and sucked out of him, he’s now just frigid wet. But

‘Huh, Sousuke. Thanks.’

‘Yeah. no problem.’

And Rin is breathing into a towel. Rin almost wants to ask for it. The version of the pep talk he’s gonna get, that Sousuke’s probably well practiced because out of a thousand athletes, the winners are only ten and Sousuke’s still coach. The injured one, with the inspiring backstory of treating himself with ‘no knife surgery’ called exercise, secrets and body tricks. He’s got a purple belt in jiu jitsu in 2 years and that’s supposedly really fast and all Rin can think of is grapplers-are-best-lovers, girlfriend, and inevitability of the pep talk. He could smell it right now.

‘It’s the first time I saw you choke.’ Sousuke starts quietly to a point that Rin thought he imagined it, just for his mind.

‘It’s happened to Nanase. Literally everybody, no big deal.’ Rin tries to brush off lightly. Sousuke pulls off a certain gravity, in half ghost snores of a too full room.

 

‘You were so close.’

Rin claps on his chuckle. ‘That’s rich coming from you.’

‘You can tell me.’

Well-idontknow!!!- Rin almost wanted to snap back. But Rin’s heat is weakened so it came more out of as a ‘hhhell,’

( i don’t know.’)

Sousuke clasps Rin’s shoulder steady.

( i don’t know.’) Rin breathes.

‘What was the first thing that came into your head?

(((((((((That ill be a senile ex athlete, who’s best days are long gone, and keeps on finding ways to mention the olympics. Tch. pathetic

**Author's Note:**

> hmmm I really want to continue this, posting to self motivate ._.
> 
> I need PT!Sousuke to show-off his skills to canon-compliant messed up Rin, just hmmmmm


End file.
